Long Time Gone

My absence can be explained by the hectic nature of the end of term in which I found no time to pack let alone blog and the somewhat remote nature of my 10 day holiday to Central Australia.

Photos later, as I'm using the home computer. But what I've been doing can generally be described under these subheadings:

American Unis (Monday)
8 American universities visited the school on Monday night for a presentation. Very interesting, and now I'm interested in the University of Rochester, NY, which offers an IB scholarship!

Salsa Class (Tuesday)
The inspiration of my Chilean Spanish teacher (i.e. she's from Chile and teaches Spanish; obviously she speaks it, too). It was good fun though. Both the yr 11 and yr 12 Spanish classes were supposed to go, and most people did. It was an hour that began as an awkward conga line but finished in laughs and some almost graceful dancing. Highlight: got to dance with my yr 11 crush.

Public Speaking (Wednesday)
The Regional Final of the VCAA Plain Speaking Award, as hosted by our school. There were 9 competitors (including me and another girl representing our school). I was so nervous about it, but it ended up being great. I didn't win, but I had a really good time. The 6 min prepared speeches were first (mine was on the subject of interracial adoption - is it a solution? Good or bad?) and they were all really interesting and the students were all really passionate about their subjects. The impromptu topic (a 3 min speech with 4 min preparation time) was The time is now, which was good for me because I'd been thinking about that one beforehand (it was included in the 'previous impromptu topics' on the VCAA site). I talked about global warming and yr 12 - the time to act (be sustainable/study, respectively) is now. The other girl from our school came runner up, and the girl who won deserved it (she'd also beaten the girl who came runner up last year in another public speaking competition.) I feel that I went well, that I presented both speeches well. But what I loved most about the competition was when we were all in the same room waiting to go into the impromptu preparation room and we were just talking. It was really comfortable and friendly.

Goodbye (Thursday)
Said goodbye to Miss SC, very sadly. Spent the last hour before I was picked up (by my parents) in her kitchen, reminiscing and laughing and having a good old time. I'm grateful for that. I cried the first time she told me she was leaving, but not as hard as I did after I'd said goodbye and I was walking back to my boarding house. It just hit me hard that she's moving, and so far away. If you're reading my blog, chica, (and I know you are!) here's my shout out to ya: I'll see you when I see you (when I win $1,000,000!) but I'll talk to you even sooner.

Central Australia - the trip begins (Friday)
This isn't going to be a detailed description (that will be better accompanied by photos) but a snapshot of the highlights.
Flew out early Friday morning - first low light of the trip was leaving my retainers behind (but fortunately they still fit after a week away from my mouth - albeit a little tight!). But eventually I got over it and realised there was nothing I could do. The trip got better after that.
A really awesome trip, as I've never been to NT or SA before. Spent a few nights in Alice Springs, exploring Aboriginal art galleries and culture (fascinating), a few nights out at The Rock; we climbed it in the morning and walked around the Olgas in the afternoon. It was the hardest climb I've ever done (yes, including Timbertop) but definitely worth it. The view from the top - and on the way up - was amazing. Spent a night at King's Canyon - absolutely beautiful - and trained it down to Adelaide on the Ghan (which was pretty boring and cramped). Adelaide just reminded me of Sydney, but with less life and culture (that sounds harsh, but it was a pretty dead city when we were there. Maybe it was just us...) Caught the Eagles vs. Crows game, and my team (well, the team I was supporting) the Eagles pulled through to victory (my brother is a Crows fan.)

Best get back to that huge pile of work that is mounting over my shoulder.

x
Just a girl